Antediluvian Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across premium platforms

A blood-curdling spectral thriller from writer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic evil when drifters become instruments in a fiendish maze. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will alter scare flicks this October. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody tale follows five characters who arise stranded in a cut-off shelter under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Arm yourself to be gripped by a motion picture presentation that unites intense horror with folklore, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a long-standing theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is radically shifted when the demons no longer descend externally, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the grimmest element of every character. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the conflict becomes a brutal face-off between moral forces.


In a haunting natural abyss, five young people find themselves confined under the fiendish control and grasp of a uncanny woman. As the survivors becomes unable to evade her power, stranded and pursued by evils unimaginable, they are required to reckon with their inner horrors while the final hour brutally ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and associations break, prompting each soul to doubt their personhood and the structure of personal agency itself. The hazard intensify with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that harmonizes demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel basic terror, an curse beyond time, manipulating human fragility, and dealing with a spirit that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the invasion happens, and that transition is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing audiences worldwide can witness this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to international horror buffs.


Witness this life-altering descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these ghostly lessons about mankind.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate fuses legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, and franchise surges

From pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with ancient scripture and extending to IP renewals together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the most variegated and deliberate year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios are anchoring the year with known properties, simultaneously platform operators stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as old-world menace. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is surfing the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fear year to come: brand plays, original films, alongside A jammed Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The brand-new horror cycle packs right away with a January wave, then unfolds through the warm months, and running into the year-end corridor, braiding franchise firepower, original angles, and smart offsets. Major distributors and platforms are prioritizing right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and shareable marketing that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has solidified as the bankable play in studio calendars, a pillar that can surge when it resonates and still safeguard the floor when it stumbles. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that mid-range scare machines can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings signaled there is room for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across the field, with clear date clusters, a mix of brand names and fresh ideas, and a re-energized attention on box-office windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Buyers contend the genre now performs as a wildcard on the schedule. Horror can launch on open real estate, create a clear pitch for spots and short-form placements, and over-index with demo groups that appear on opening previews and continue through the next weekend if the film pays off. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping exhibits assurance in that setup. The year gets underway with a weighty January run, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also illustrates the tightening integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and broaden at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just making another continuation. They are aiming to frame connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that flags a reframed mood or a lead change that connects a new entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the top original plays are leaning into real-world builds, on-set effects and distinct locales. That alloy hands 2026 a confident blend of assurance and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a legacy-leaning strategy without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave rooted in franchise iconography, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that becomes a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit uncanny live moments and quick hits that hybridizes love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are treated as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror rush that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around world-building, and creature work, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that maximizes both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video will mix licensed films with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and staff picks to lengthen the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival wins, slotting horror entries tight to release and framing as events premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a staged of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional cinema play for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to open out. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By tilt, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character web and themes click site and to leave creative active without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind these films hint at a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which match well with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

How the year maps out

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss push to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that twists the fright of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative movies supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.